Chairman
Dr. Peter Holtappels, marine lawyer and senior partner of the law firm Ahlers & Vogel, Hamburg.
Members
Captain Werner
Hummel, marine consultant and managing director of Marine Claims Partner
(Germany) GmbH, Hamburg. Captain Håkan Karlsson († February 1997), former
master of MV VIKING SALLY, SILJA STAR and WASA KING from June 1980 - October
1992.
Prof.-Dr. mult. Eike Lehmann, Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg until
30.06.95 (at which time Prof. Dr. Lehmann was appointed CEO of the Board
of Germanischer Lloyd, Hamburg and became thus unable to participate in
the ongoing investigation). Dipl.-Ing. Tomas Wilkendorf, naval architect
employed by Messrs. Jos. L. Meyer GmbH, Papenburg.
Experts
Prof. Dr.-Ing.
Hans Hoffmeister, of the University of the Armed Forces, Hamburg.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Walter Abicht, Institute for Shipbuilding of the University
of Hamburg.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hansjörg Petershagen, Institute for Shipbuilding of the University
of Hamburg.
Dr.-Ing. Zenon Hirsch, naval architect, Hamburg.
Captain Peter Jansson, Helsinki/Finland.
Veli-Matti Junnila, stability expert, Turku/Finland.
Swedish observer - Captain Erland von Hofsten, chairman of the Swedish
Sailor's Foundation, Gothenburg/Sweden.
Bryan E.W. Roberts - reconnaissance expert, Churchgate/UK.
Brian Braidwood - diving and explosives expert, Weymouth/UK.
Jonathon Bisson - video expert, Axminster/UK.
Status
The German 'Group
of Experts' was set up to find out the causes of the accident.
The chairman of the German 'Group of Experts', Dr. Peter Holtappels, accepted
the appointment only under the condition that the Group could act independently,
i.e. without any interference by the management of Jos. L. Meyer GmbH. This
total independence was granted and strictly adhered to.
Work Schedule
The main work was
done by Dr. Peter Holtappels, Captain Werner Hummel and Dipl. Ing. Tomas
Wilkendorf in the office of Marine Claims Partner (Germany) GmbH, Hamburg
and, to a certain extent, at the Meyer Werft, Papenburg.
The other
experts came in and went out as the situation required. Numerous trips to
Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom were made and from time to time Estonia
and/or Latvia have been visited.
A considerable amount of time was spent on the evaluation of the investigation
results of the visor, the ROV and diver videos and the recovered objects.
Also the evaluation of the numerous statements of the 137 official survivors,
the collection of evidence from previous passengers, the review of the files
of the Swedish and Finnish parts of the JAIC as well as from the Public
Prosecutor in Stockholm and the subsequent follow up took quite some time.
Summary
This report consists of four parts. The first part - A - gives factual information about the design and construction of the ferry, her builders, owners, some of the subcontractors, the Classification Society and the National Maritime Administrations, her operation under the Finnish and Estonian flags and the status of her certificates as well as her maintenance and damage condition and the circumstances of ESTONIA's last voyage, the investigations after the sinking, the casualty scenario and the unexplained damage/unexplained evidence. The second part - B - presents associated facts such as bow door failures and incidents of other Ro-Ro vessels before the ESTONIA casualty and the reactions respectively non-reaction of Maritime Administrations/Classification Societies and furthermore, the results of separate investigations performed by various universities, institutes and independent experts in Germany and abroad. The third part - C - contains an analysis of the Final-Report of the JAIC in the light of the own investigation results. In the fourth part - D - the conclusions with reference to the particular subchapters are drawn.
